Why I Love Ramen
by boagarota
Summary: Ever wondered why Naruto likes ramen so much? Now you'll find out. Gen, 6-years-old Naruto, Ichiraku's Ramen tribute.


**Why I Love Ramen**, by Uzumaki May

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or the universe he lives in. I just write fanfics for pleasure. =)

**A/N: **_I was planning to write this for months, now. Really. It's small and simple, but at the same time it has so many meanings hidden underneath and in-between. I hope you find them, 'cause if you don't my effort was wasted._

-IR-

Hunger.

That was a word he knew the meaning pretty well. Having lived alone since he was four, he was quite acquainted to that sensation. The feeling of being empty, and not only of food.

Now he was six and, even if time had passed, his hunger surely didn't. In his poor excuse of a life, he just barely managed to live one day after the previous one. He would never give himself hopes of a better tomorrow. He learnt the hard way it was just _too much_ to ask.

His bare feet brushed the sand on the street, often carried by a light breeze. Sometimes the floating sand made his nose tickle, but then it would just be carried away before he gave up to a sneeze. The cuts in his feet ached slightly every time he stepped on a rock. His hair wasn't showing it's natural blonde color, too dirty with mud.

His most striking feature, however, were his eyes. It was just like looking at the sky. That light and vivid blue mirrored the dome above his head, with only a slight difference: they were cold where Konoha's sky was sunny.

Naruto didn't pay attention to the citizens that moved out of his way. He was just too used to it by now to be bothered. Even so, his eyes were ice cold whenever someone dared to look at them. There was no warmth. No friendliness. It was just like looking through an empty glass: you could see right through it because there was nothing filling it.

The few shinobi(1) who darted angry and hateful glares his way didn't feel enough irritation to really pursue him today. To that he was grateful. He just wasn't in the right shape to do some of his - already infamous - escapes now. If they bothered to bully him, he would probably be caught easily.

Sighing, the little blond continued his unknown route. He had tried to buy something with the money Hokage-jiji(2) had given him, but no one wanted to sell him food. He was used to that, too. They only sold him something to eat if it was nearly outdated or visibly rotting. It made his stomach ache after he ate it, and he usually ended vomiting it all after, but what choice did he have? Jiji couldn't go with him every time he had to buy groceries.

A beggar shouted at him when he turned a corner. Apparently he was so dirty and ill-looking that the man had mistaken him for one of his own kind. Well, Naruto couldn't really deny that fact. He _was_ basically a beggar, dirty and hungry and mistreated and wandering from street to street with no fixed destiny. The difference was that he actually had a house to live.

Sure, his apartment was small and in bad conditions, but it was the only one Jiji managed to convince someone to rent. It was placed in the poorest corner of the village, and his neighbors were just waiting for a chance to kick him out – or kill him, probably. No one ever talked to him, nor listened to him when he tried to talk to them. Inside his apartment, there was only his bed and the basic living necessities – refrigerator, oven, table, a wardrobe…

Naruto didn't mind it that much. He didn't stay too much inside his own apartment to care. He spent time there only to sleep, eat and clean whatever needed to be cleaned. Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at it, and so the few clothes he had were often stained, like the one he was using now. To complete his look, he was often caught in traps made by other people, so he was in a continuous state of dirtiness.

Not that anyone cared. If much, it became fuel to their pranks and jokes. The child would be victim of these often and, more often than that, of the looks of hate and anger on the adults eyes. There was practically no one who wouldn't look at him as if he was lower than scum or trash, or like they wanted to kill him.

Naruto didn't really understand why. He remembered little of what his life was like when he was in the orphanage. He had to leave it when he was just two-years-old because of something that happened with him, and then Jiji took him to his house. That place was wonderful, really. Baa-chan(3) was nice and always gave him tasty food. She used to play with him every day.

But then Baa-chan died and he had to leave the house. Jiji told him it wasn't because of him, Naruto. According to the Hokage, the old man just couldn't take care of him anymore because evil people where threatening to make him stop being Hokage if he continued to raise him. So he was getting Naruto a place of his own, and he promised to visit as often as he could. And so Naruto was living since then.

Sadly enough, the free time a Hokage could manage was almost nonexistent, so Jiji often vanished from his side for months on a row. That gave the evil people the chances they wanted to pull pranks at him without getting scolded. And not only pranks, jokes and evil glares. They often beat him up, too. But then one of Jiji's masked guys would arrive and take them away and get Naruto to the nearest emergency hospital available.

The doctors always said – not often with a tint of irony and disappointment in their voices – that he had the fastest recovery rate they have ever seen. It was usual for Naruto to spend only one night at the hospital and then get released. His wounds would be fully healed in two or three days.

Of course there were times when someone more courageous or angered would nearly kill him, and then he would spend some more days sleeping at the hospital. He found it boring, but he didn't complain too much; food there was always better than what he would be able to get when he was back in his apartment.

Jiji had told him he would be entering the Ninja Academy next year. Although Naruto doubted his chances of living until then, he was looking forward to it. The children he met on the streets never wanted to play with him. When the rare case of a willing friend happened, their parents would get he or she away from him ASAP.

So the blonde was making plans of finding friends on the Ninja Academy to play with. It would be fun, it surely would. That was, if the teachers didn't hate him too.

-IR-

Naruto wandered through the streets the rest of the day, still trying to buy something to eat. It was a fruitless effort as all the groceries were still fresh and new, and so would never be sold to him. His stomach was already aching with hunger when the night came.

He continued to walk nonetheless. Maybe he would be able to spot some leftovers on the back of the stores and eat something, or some tree would still have fruits and he would be able to pick them without anyone noticing. He thought about going to Jiji's house, but then remembered the old man was traveling to some Kage Meeting, so he continued his search for food.

It was with that intent that he turned on the furthest street he had ever gone inside the town. He knew he was lost and would probably never find his way home in the dark. His eyes were starting to water, but he forced himself to gulp the sadness. He would not cry! Not because of these bastards!

Even so, he had some problem to distinguish the houses on that street with his tears-filled eyes. He did notice that all of them were with the lights off except for one. Drying his eyes with his hands, Naruto stared at the lit advertisement with curiosity.

"I…chi…ra…ku…" He spent a minute reading the first word. He didn't know much how to read. "Is it… _La-men_?" He asked himself trying to read the last word.

Getting near the shop, the boy analyzed it. It was small, undeniably small. Probably half of his apartment's size, and that _was_ really small. Most of the area was behind the counter, where he could barely see a refrigerator, an oven, a lot of pans and some jars with multi-colored liquids in them.

He could hear the _pssssssst_ of the oil boiling on the pans where the man – the cook, it seemed – put a lot of ingredients. He was very tall and a little overweight. His hair was covered by a chef hat, and his clothes were covered with a large apron. Besides him was a teenage girl with brown hair and brown eyes, the same color as ossan's(4) ones. Both of them seemed to get along well, and Naruto was smart enough to figure out they must be father and daughter.

His eyes now perused the front of the shop. There was a row of seats that was separated from the kitchen by the counter, where the requests were put when ready. Behind those seats – or in front of them, if you looked at it from another point of view – was the cover that fell from the roof.

It protected the customers from the sun when it was in the right angle to reach the front of the ramen bar, and it had printed in it the name of the bar in the red kanjis(5) that Naruto was trying to read just moments ago. Now that it was night, the only lights came from the kitchen, and those were soft and inviting. But even more inviting was the smell that came from inside.

The boy stared at that bar for another few moments. He had to agree he didn't use to come to that part of town that often, but even so he was pretty sure that shop was new. The paint was just too clean and fresh and the bar in it all was screaming _NEW!_ to him. If he was better at reading, he may have noticed the "Opening discount!" advertisement just beside the menu hanging on the left wall.

As he wasn't, Naruto had to trust his instincts to believe it was a new place in town. If it was, he had a better chance at trying to buy food there than he would be anywhere else. Feeling his hopes emerging again, and already fearing the loss of these hopes in case his plans were ruined, the blonde strode into the bar.

It seemed Luck had decided to smile at him that night. The last customer was just leaving, so there wouldn't be anyone to try to humiliate him. The cook and his daughter were gathering the unused ingredients to close the shop. Quickly, as if feeling he couldn't afford to lose a second, Naruto jumped into the nearest seat and spoke.

"Oyasumi(6), ossan! Can I eat ramen, onegai(7)?"

Both cookers turned to him with surprised expressions, as if they didn't see him there before. Naruto saw the way they looked at him from head to toes, analyzing his state, before they traded a look with each other. Desperate since it seemed it was his last chance to eat that day, Naruto started to speak again.

"Listen, I have money! I can pay! I know I'm dirty, but I'm really hungry! I'm trying to buy food since that morning. Please, let me eat!"

The man and his daughter traded some more looks between themselves and at the boy. It was like they were having a silent discussion. Then, the father turned to him and smiled.

"All right, little one. What do you want?"

More happy than he would ever be able to express in word, Naruto started jumping in his seat, his eyes suddenly full of joy and light. "Anything! Everything!" Each word was punctuated by a jump, which made the girl giggle softly.

"Ok, let's do a special ramen for you, boy." The man replied, laughing himself. Then he turned to the kitchen and started working. His daughter, having nothing to do, supported herself on the counter and smiled to him.

"Tell me, sweet, what's your name?" She asked softly, as if trying to calm him.

Still jumping and happy, he answered without a thought. "Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto!" It was just when the man stopped cooking to send a shocked look in his direction that the boy thought they could've heard about him from someone. _Damn, I should have made up a name!_

He stopped jumping, wary. His sudden stiffness seemed to bring the man from the realm of his thoughts, because he returned to the cooking. His daughter, who had observed the little interaction, turned to him again and smiled.

"That explains a lot." It was all she said for a moment. Seeing as he didn't relax, probably thinking she must be tricking him into believing he was safe, she continued. "Don't worry. We won't make you leave. Here at Ichiraku we have a place for everyone who wants to eat our food."

The boy looked with suspicion at them. It made her heart ache to see him, so young, already so little innocent. And because of bad people, nonetheless. "I can really eat here?" He asked one more time, as if uncertain of her words.

"Yes, you can." She put her best smile to him. "I'm Ayame, and this is my dad, Teuchi. Yoroshikune(8), Naruto-kun!"

He seemed to have an inner battle with himself before he sighed and smiled weakly at her. "Yoroshikune, Ayame-chan." He greeted her, bowing slightly.

Feeling her heart melting for his cuteness, she ruffled his hair. Even if it was dirty. That, more than any word she said, made Naruto tremble with surprise and thankfulness. They really seemed to be good people. He hoped he wouldn't be disappointed yet again. There was a limit to how much pain he could endure at one time.

"So, are you new in Konoha?" He asked, starting to jump again.

Smiling at his seemingly endless energy, Ayame answered. "Kind of. Father was born here, but he moved when he was younger. Then he married my mother. I was born in the capital. Now that mother died, father wanted to come back here, so I came with him." She explained, appreciating the changes in his eyes as he followed her story.

"You're from the Fire Country capital? _Sugoi_(09)! Tell me, is it big? Has it many ninjas? How's the food there?" He started to dart questions at her. Ayame laughed and tried to answer his doubts, at what he would spill even more questions. Teuchi, finally done with Naruto's ramen, joined them and put the bowl in front of the boy.

Both cookers stared in silence as the blonde looked at the food. Ayame noticed her father had made a generous portion of ramen for him. The boy seemed to be too moved to even eat it finally. His eyes, however, were already eating the food by themselves. Father and daughter had to restrain themselves from saying something when the boy's eyes started to water.

Gods, what that boy had passed until he found them? When he finally took the hashis(10) into his hands and had his first bite, they held their breath. When he closed his eyes and let his head fall backwards in joy, they felt their eyes watering in sadness. He was clearly starving, and probably wasn't eating well for weeks.

Recomposing himself, Teuchi started to make small talk with the kid.

For the next hour the two of them learned that Naruto was a very cute and gentle kid. He would laugh at every joke they told him, make silly nicknames for Teuchi, and smile when Ayame offered him sauce. He would scream his thoughts to get their attention if he thought they were getting distracted, or shout with indignance when he didn't agree with something they said.

They also learned that he was craving attention he had never properly received. That he lived alone in a far and dangerous neighborhood. That he sometimes couldn't buy things to eat, like that week, because people would simply refuse to sell him anything.

That he had no friends to play with, or to count on. That he never properly learned some manners because no one bothered to teach him. That he didn't know how to use the oven. That he often escaped to the Hokage Monument when he was overwhelmed with sadness. That people treated him like trash.

When the boy had finished his meal, he had thoroughly told hem his quick life story as far as he could remember without even noticing. It was just too obvious he had never had someone who wanted to listen to him speaking by the way he was so eager to share his experiences.

He seemed much lighter than he was when they first saw him. That coldness in his eyes was gone, giving place to the warmth of a happiness only children can achieve. His voice was now excited instead of resigned or hurt. His gestures were more expressive than before, and his overall appearance had become more like that of a normal child if not for the obvious thinness of his body and the dirt.

"You know what, Naruto-kun?" Teuchi called him after the boy became silent for a minute, appreciating the fullness of his stomach. When he was sure he had the blonde's attention, the cook continued. "These people who treat you badly want to see you sad and angry and bad. That's what makes them happy. The best way to frustrate their stupid ideas is to keep smiling. You should smile, like you are right now, every time they try something. That will surely make them disappointed."

"Really?" The kid asked, not really grasping that concept.

"Yes, father is right." Ayame agreed. "They want to see you sad. If you smile at them, this means you're happy, so they are not making you sad. If you're not sad, they don't get what they want, and thus they become unhappy themselves."

"Wow!" The boy was awed. "I've never thought about that!"

Smiling at him, Teuchi ruffled his hair. "Well, now you have friends to help you deal with them, right?"

"Do I?" He seemed puzzled and, at the same time, moved by that idea.

"Yes, you have." Ayame concluded, patting his cheek with fondness. "You're welcome here anytime you want, Naruto-kun. We will always be here for you."

They felt their own hearts aching when they noticed the boy was trying to control his tears.

"T-Thank you!" He finally replied after some seconds. "Thank you s-so much!"

"It's nothing, kid. Really." Teuchi smiled at him. "Now let's walk you to your home, huh? It's already past midnight."

They closed the shop and Naruto became even more happy when they told him he didn't have to pay for the ramen.

"It's on the house!" Teuchi explained, gripping his hands and starting to walk.

For the first time in his life, Naruto felt surrounded by friends. Smiling happily and gripping both Ayame and Teuchi's hands while they walked him home, he let himself enjoy that rare moment in his life.

"I think I love ramen!" He told them suddenly, making them laugh.

"I'm sure you do." Both of them replied, and the boy smiled.

-IR-

**A/N: **So, I hope you like it. I haven't had someone beta-ed it because I'm not a native speaker of English, so I don't know any English beta-readers. If you wish to give me a hand, please contact me via review or PM.

I do believe this fic is somewhat canon, since it is obvious in both manga and anime that Naruto has difficulties buying groceries. It seemed just obvious to me that he liked Ichiraku more because of their friendliness than properly because of their food. The ramen obsession is just the way he shows how much he appreciates their support when no one did the same. At least that's what I think.

**Vocabulary:**

1) Shinobi – ninja.  
2) Jiji – a fond way of calling someone old "grandfather".  
3) Baa-chan – same as above, but meaning "grandmother".  
4) Oji-san – "uncle".  
5) Kanji – one of Japan writing systems.  
6) Oyasumi – "Good night", in an informal way.  
7) Onegai – "Please".  
8) Yoroshikune – "Nice to meet you".  
9) Sugoi – "Cool!".  
10) Hashis – the wood sticks used to eat.


End file.
